Data Gravity Index™ 2.0 Key Highlights

Data Gravity’s impact on enterprise
The evolution of the data economy
5 macrotrends influencing Data Gravity
Data regulation fueling Data Gravity
Multi-cloud and hybrid cloud adoption

What is the Data Gravity Index™?

Data has a gravitational pull — as a data set grows, it attracts applications and services, creating a virtuous cycle of even more data creation.

As the largest global provider of multi-tenant data center capacity¹, Digital Realty has a unique perspective on how technology infrastructure is built, deployed, and operated. The Data Gravity Index™ is our effort to quantify and predict the intensity of Data Gravity at the global level. Our aim is to help businesses make decisions about where to place and connect infrastructure and data sets to enable performant, compliant, and resilient service delivery.

Supported by refined data sets and calculations that correlate Data Gravity with Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, the Data Gravity Index™ 2.0 reveals the shift toward a global economy centered around data.

The evolution of the Data Gravity Index™ 2.0

In 2020, Digital Realty published the Data Gravity Index™ 1.5. This report helped inform our customers as they shift their strategies to address complex Hybrid IT challenges underpinned by Data Gravity.

In the Data Gravity Index™ 2.0, we are continuing this mission supported by refined data sets and calculations that correlate Data Gravity with Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth. This reflects the increased importance of secure data exchange and our global economy shifting from digitally powered to data-powered.

How does the Data Gravity Index™ 2.0 help IT leaders?

In 2016, the World Economic Forum predicted a $100 trillion “digital dividend for society and business”² —what they defined as the combined value of digital transformation across industries.

More recently, the IDC identified that the shift toward a data economy is already happening in the US: in 2022, data dense products grew to comprise two-thirds ($17.3 trillion) of the US GDP. ³

The Data Gravity Index™ 2.0 findings correlate Data Gravity with GDP growth, further illustrating the value and centrality of data in our global economy.

The report gives you targeted insights as you adopt data-centric approaches and strive to stay ahead in an interconnected world where data is at the core of every business decision.

¹451 Research, Market Forecast, Leased Datacenter Global Providers, 2023. Capacity measured in terms of operational square footage.
²World Economic Forum, $100 Trillion by 2025: the Digital Dividend for Society and Business, January 2016
³IDC, Enterprise Intelligence: Digital Differentiation with Decision Velocity, May 2023.

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